Wright, Joseph
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- Wright, Joseph
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(1734 - 97), painter, s. of John 'Equity' Wright of Derby; pupil of Hudson in London 1751 - 53 and 1756 - 7; exh. SA from 1765, RA from 1778, FS from 1778, Society for Promoting the Arts in Liverpool from 1784; ARA 1781; m. 1773 Hannah (Anne) Swift.
1774 - 5 [dep. Exeter 1 Nov. 1773] Genoa, Leghorn, Rome (3 Feb. - Sep. 1774), Naples (by 2 Oct. - 11 Nov. 1774), Rome ( - 10 Jun. 1775), Narni, Terni, Perugia, Florence (19 Jun. - 4 Jul. 1775), Bologna, Venice (one week in Jul.), Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Mantua, Parma (24 Jul.), Piacenza, Alessandria, Turin ( - 1 Aug.) [Derby 26 Sep.]
Wright, an obdurate man and a dedicated artist, was already established as a master of the 'candle-light' style when he set out for Italy in November 1773.1 His companions were his pregnant wife Hannah, his pupil Richard Hurleston, and John Downman, and for the last part of his journey he was joined by James Paine junior.2 They sailed for Italy on 1 November. They had reached Nice in December and went on to Genoa and Leghorn, before travelling overland to Rome, where they arrived on 3 February 1774. Wright and his wife had suffered much from the particularly turbulent sea voyage, the uncomfortable journey across country in a two-wheeled carriage, and poor accommodation en route. After a month in a house run by 'a very sensible old Lady who comes from Irland',3 they were established by 13 April 1774 in six rooms in a house in an elevated position, reached by steps (probably on the Trinita dei Monti). Wright found 'upwards of 40 English students' in Rome and during his stay he met George Romney and Ozias Humphry, as well as the landscape painter Jacob More (whose interest in night scenes he came to share). On 24 June his daughter was born in Rome.
Wright had taken with him to Italy an Alchymist discovering Phosphorus (Derby AG), painted in a northern Caravaggesque manner and, according to Father Thorpe,4 the Italians at first considered him merely as one of the 'modern mimicks of Flemish masters'. But by 10 August Wright was telling his brother Richard that 'My Pictures are in great estimation here I am shortly to be introduced to the Pope; & it is thought he will honour me with his Medal'. Clement XIV, however, was already mortally ill and the introduction never took place. Later that year Thorpe mentioned the completion of Wright's painting of The Captive from Sterne's Sentimental Journey (Vancouver) and, contradicting his earlier judgments, he said Wright 'is thought to have more genius than any of the great number of English painters in town'.
Wright was meanwhile overwhelmed by the antiquities of Rome. On 22 May 1774 he wrote that the Italian climate was 'certainly very salutary, and would, I think, perfectly restore me, was not my attention and application continually engaged with the amazing and stupendous remains of antiquity; and so numerous are they, that one can scarce move a foot but the relics of some stupendous works present themselves. When I consider the immense size of the whole, and the beauty of the parts, I cannot help reflecting how trifling and insignificant are the present operations of mankind: we are no better than infants, and ought to wear daiding strings. I have no time to enter into a particular detail of the fine things this country abounds with; let it suffice to tell you, at present, that the artist finds here whatever may facilitate and improve his studies. The Antique remains of art, as I said before, are wonderful'. Later, after visiting Pompeii, Herculaneum and the Museum in Naples, he wrote how he was glad 'to find from ye Observations I have made in these places that the present age is not so degenerated either in size or morals as some imagine. The Sculls of the Old Romans are the size of the present, and from the Chirurgical Instruments which are in the Museum, they were liable to the same disorders, indeed, there is no doubt but Nature was always ye same and will be so ad infinitum'. Wright told his brother Richard on 10 August 1774 that his time was 'entirely spent amongst the Antique Statues and Painting'.
He made many drawings (Derby AG, and a sketchbook in the BMPL dated February 1774), whose inscriptions reveal that he was working in the Capitoline Museum from mid-March to early April 1774, and in June 1774; in the French Academy in late April and May 1774 and the spring 1775; in a palazzo in Trastevere, probably the Palazzo Corsini or Farnesina, on 2 October 1774; in the Vatican at various dates, and at the Palazzo Barberini in March 1775.
His journal records his admiration for the works of Italian masters, such as Titian, Veronese and Correggio, though he sometimes criticized major pictures and found others too darkened to be appreciated. He passionately admired Michelangelo and drew many of the figures from the Sistine Chapel. A volume of thirty-six such drawings, inscribed Rome 1774, was recorded in 1885 (and some drawings now at Derby probably came from it). The Italian scenery and Mediterranean light also inspired him. He wrote to his sister Nancy on 22 May 1774 that 'The Natural scenes are beautiful and uncommon, with an atmosphere so pure and clear, that objects twenty miles distant seem not half the way'. Two sketchbooks (Metropolitan Mus., NY) contain a number of sky studies, some inscribed with notes of colour, light, cloud formations, and atmospheric effects, some dated May 1774.
It was during his visit to Naples (October - November 1774) that Wright saw 'the most wonderful sight in nature', a volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. He told his brother he was going to paint it (11 Nov. 1774) and, in the event, drawings and paintings of Vesuvius formed part of his work for the next two decades. Wright found an ideal subject to pair with Vesuvius: the Girandola display at Castel Sant' Angelo in Rome, and he subsequently exhibited paired paintings of the two subjects (for example, pendants from 1778 are in the Hermitage and Pushkin Museums). Before leaving Naples Wright also painted two cavern scenes near Salerno (dated 1774; priv. coll. and Smith Coll., Northampton, Mass.).
Wright is said to have contributed to Sir William Hamilton's Campi Phlegraei [1772], according to an inscription in Hamilton's own copy (now BL), and later, in 1784, Wright is said to have used a drawing by Charles Parker as the basis for a painting of a scene described in Hamilton's Account of the late Earthquakes in Calabria, Sicily [1783].5 Wright must have met Hamilton in Naples,6 but he is not known to have visited Sicily (although he produced at least two Sicilian views, one in the Tate Gallery).
Wright left Rome on 10 June 1775, several months later than he had intended. He spent only a fortnight in Florence, and a week in Venice; 'when one has seen Rome, other places suffer by comparison', he explained in his journal. But he had time to meet J.S. Copley in Parma and to admire the Royal collection in Turin.
1. See W. Bemrose, Joseph Wright, 29 - 42 (corr. and jnl.). B. Nicolson, Wright of Derby, 1:6 - 12. D. Fraser, Wright in Italy, exh. cat., Sudbury [1987], 2 - 5. 2. Thorpe letters MSS (12 Feb. 1774). 3. To his bro., 10 Aug. 1774 (priv. coll.). 4. Thorpe letters MSS, see Nicolson (at n1), 1:8 - 9, 60 - 1, and 76 - 7. 5. Parker letters MSS, B 2105 (18 Feb. 1784). 6. Vases and Volcanoes, 170.
D. F.